The Switch
by Mulderette
Summary: A temporary switch in partnerships leads to a failure to communicate between Callen and Deeks.


Hetty walked into the bullpen where Callen, Sam, Kensi and Deeks were all working hard on their various assignments, most of which involved paperwork as they currently had no active case. "I've got an assignment for two of you," she said, getting their attention immediately.

"Sam and I will take it," Callen said immediately, chomping at the bit to get out of the office.

"You don't even know what the assignment is, Mr. Callen," Hetty said.

"It doesn't matter. You don't care, do you, Sam?" he asked, turning towards his partner.

Sam shook his head. "Nope, I agree with G. We'll take it."

Kensi sighed, knowing that she and Deeks had no chance and refocused on the papers on her desk.

"Now, as this is a travel assignment. I think it's only fair that you all have a chance to go," said Hetty. "It's actually a pretty choice job because it is in Mexico City and the work itself is actually pretty routine. However, I thought it would be a nice reward for two of you as you've all been working so hard lately."

"So, how are you going to choose who goes?" Deeks asked, thinking how sweet it would be for him and Kensi to be able to take the trip together.

Hetty held out a small satchel. "Your fate lies in here," she said, a small smile on her lips. "If you pick the paper that says Mexico, well, that's obvious. The other papers say home, also obvious. Mr. Hanna, would you start us off please?"

Sam smiled at Callen and rubbed his hands together before sticking his hand into the satchel. "Mexico!" he said, grinning at G who high-fived him. "Yeah baby! That's what I'm talking about! When do G and I leave?"

"Well, you still don't know that it's Mr. Callen who will accompany you," Hetty explained. "He hasn't chosen yet."

"What?" Callen looked at Hetty in dismay. "But Sam chose for both of us, didn't he?"

Hetty shook her head and held the satchel out to Callen who put his hand in and pulled out a slip of paper which read home.

Callen slammed the paper onto his desk and narrowed his eyes at Hetty. "Now, now, Mr. Callen. Don't be a poor loser. You all had the same chance." She held the satchel out to Deeks. "Mr. Deeks?"

"Oh, Kensi can choose first," Deeks said. Already, he wasn't happy about the remaining options. Although he wanted to go on the trip, going with Kensi seemed a lot more appealing than going with Sam.

Kensi smiled and put her hand into the satchel coming up with one which read Mexico. "Oh my God!" she squealed happily. "I'm going to Mexico!"

Callen shook his head, obviously disappointed and Deeks didn't look much happier as he went over to Kensi and gave her a kiss. "Congratulations, baby," he said, smiling at her.

"Oh, thank you Deeks," Kensi said, looking up at him with a smile. "I'm sorry you don't get to go too. It would have been wonderful if you and I could have gone together."

Callen turned back to his laptop with a sigh and Sam looked from his partner to Deeks, not feeling quite as happy as he had been a few moments ago. "When do we leave?" he asked Hetty.

"You have a flight out this evening at 8 p.m., Mr. Hanna."

"How long are we going for?" Kensi asked.

"Just two days, Ms. Blye. It's not going to take very long, but like I said, I thought it was a nice little change of pace for two of you."

"Can I go home to pack?" Kensi asked, her eyes shining with excitement.

Hetty nodded. "Of course, and you might want to stop at Wardrobe before you leave to pick out a special dress for dinner tomorrow evening. There's a lovely restaurant which I have taken the liberty of making a reservation at. I'm sure that you and Mr. Hanna will have a wonderful time."

"Oh thank you, Hetty," Kensi said, smiling with obvious excitement. "I can't wait. I'm going to go take a look right now."

"This keeps getting better and better," Deeks muttered under his breath. Kensi would be dressed to kill as she had dinner with Sam while he was stuck here.

"Take heart, Mr. Deeks," Hetty said with a smile. "The next time, I'll make sure that you and Mr. Callen get to go."

"Gee, thanks," Deeks said. It was just what he'd always wanted, a romantic trip with Callen.

Hetty started to walk back towards her office and Sam quickly followed. "Hetty? Can I talk to you?" he asked.

"Of course, Mr. Hanna, but you might want to think about heading home so you can pack and say goodbye to your wife and daughter."

"About that…I was thinking that maybe you should let Deeks go with Kensi instead of me."

"Really, Mr. Hanna?" Hetty asked as she took a seat behind her desk. "You don't want to go to Mexico City?"

Sam shrugged. "It's not really all that important to me. I've gone there before. G and I can just go on assignment next time."

"Hmm…" Hetty pondered that for a few moments and then shook her head. "Actually, I think things have worked out for the best in this case so why don't we leave it as it is."

Sam looked at Hetty in confusion. "I don't understand…you're making me go?"

"You deserve this, Sam. You've been working very hard lately."

"No harder than anyone else," Sam stated. "I think it would be a lot more meaningful for Deeks to go with Kensi."

"Go and say goodbye to your family, Sam," Hetty said. "This may turn out to be good for you…and your partner."

"Is this about G?" Sam asked, still looking confused. "Did we do something wrong for you to want to split us up?"

"No, no, Mr. Hanna. Nothing like that. You will be home the night after tomorrow. This is supposed to be a reward, not a punishment. It's not like I planned this. You all drew, fair and square. Now please, go and have a good time. Bring your laptop and I will email you all the pertinent information that you and Ms. Blye will need.

"Alright… Bye Hetty…see you in a couple days." Sam headed back to the bullpen where Callen looked up at him curiously.

"Everything okay, Sam?"

Sam nodded. "Yeah…everything's fine, G."

"So you heading out?" Callen got up and extended his hand to his partner. "Have a safe trip."

"Thanks, you be safe too," Sam said, pulling Callen in for one of their signature hugs. "I'll see you in a couple of days."

"See you, Sam."

xxxxx

The next morning, Deeks arrived before Callen and placed a cup of coffee and a donut on the senior agent's desk. He had figured it wouldn't hurt to try to get things off to a good start with Callen. Callen came into the bullpen a few minutes later. "Good morning, Deeks," he said, looking at the items on his desk in amusement. "Is this like an apple for the teacher?" he asked.

"Good morning, Callen, and no…I just figured since I was stopping anyway…"

"Well, thank you," Callen said. He sat down and immediately took a sip of the coffee. "Mmm… just how I like it."

Deeks felt uncharacteristically nervous and wasn't sure why. It wasn't like he and Callen hadn't worked together in the past, but this just seemed different somehow. At that moment, Nell came into the bullpen with some papers which she handed to each of them. "We had a break in the Garcia case. It seems that Juan Garcia worked for this man, Antonio Moretti. He's not considered a suspect, but we have reason to believe he would have information pertinent to the case, so you guys should interview him."

Callen stared at the first page of the papers Nell had handed him with a feeling of dread in his stomach. Antonio Moretti…it couldn't be, could it? After all these years? He was sure that there were many Antonio Morettis in the world , but pictures didn't lie. Although he was much older and, of course, had changed, it was definitely the same person he had known as a boy.

"Can…can you take care of this, Deeks?" Callen asked, quickly getting to his feet. "I…I have something I need to do."

"Seriously, Callen?" Deeks asked, watching as Callen basically fled from the bullpen. "Well, this is just swell." He really wished he had won Hetty's little drawing and was off in Mexico City with Kensi. Being stuck here with Callen felt like had lost in more ways than one. The guy wouldn't even give him a chance.

xxxxx

A short while after Callen had left, Hetty stopped by the bullpen. "Good morning, Mr. Deeks," she said with a smile. "How are things going with you and Mr. Callen so far?"

"I don't know, Hetty, you'd have to ask him," Deeks said with obvious tension in his voice.

"Is something wrong?"

"I'd say something's wrong," Deeks said. "He won't even work with me, Hetty. I mean, I know we're not best friends or anything, but I might as well be working alone. He won't even go on a simple assignment with me to interview someone. He said he had to take care of something and just took off."

"Oh Mr. Deeks, I can't imagine you're the reason," Hetty said, looking worried. She picked up the piece of paper from Deeks' desk but the man's name or picture didn't mean anything to her. "Why don't you bring Mr. Moretti to the boatshed to interview him. I'll see that Mr. Callen joins you there."

Deeks ran his hand back through his hair then shook his head. "I'll just do it myself, Hetty," he said. "I have enough problems without Callen thinking I ran crying to you about this."

"Oh, you did no such thing. Go now and try to get Mr. Moretti to the boat shed. Let me know when you have him there, alright?"

Deeks nodded, but he didn't look particularly happy. "Whatever you say, Hetty." He got his things together and went off to try to get a hold of Antonio Moretti.

xxxxx

"Mr. Callen…" Hetty had headed to Callen's usual meeting spot on Venice Beach. "You can't be hiding out or you wouldn't have come here. You would have known this was the first place I would look for you."

"I'm not hiding, Hetty," Callen said. "I'm just thinking."

Hetty shook her head. "Is this really all because I sent Mr. Hanna to Mexico City without you? Honestly, if I had known it would cause such a problem, I never would have done it. I would have granted Mr. Hanna's request to let Mr. Deeks take his place."

"What?" Callen looked at Hetty with a true look of surprise in his eyes. "No, Hetty…that's not it. I'm happy for Sam and Kensi too. Of course, I would have liked to have gone, but I certainly don't have a problem with them going."

"So, then your problem isn't with Mr. Deeks either?"

Callen shook his head and sighed. "No, but…I guess I understand why Deeks would have that impression. I did kind of run out on him…"

"Because?"

Callen shook his head, his eyes looking haunted. "I can't talk about it to you, Hetty…"

"Well, who can you talk to?" she asked. "Mr. Hanna?"

Callen shrugged. "I don't know," he said softly. "Maybe…I'm not sure…"

Hetty nodded. There was still so much he kept buried deep inside. She wondered if he would ever be able free himself of all his inner demons of the past.

"I guess I should get back to Deeks," Callen said.

"He's currently on his way to the boatshed," Hetty informed him.

"What?" Callen asked. "Why?" But he knew. There was no reason at all to bring Antonio Moretti to the boathouse, but he knew he was being brought there anyway. "Was that really necessary, Hetty?"

"I don't know, Mr. Callen…was it?" she asked, giving him a piercing look. "I guess you're the only one who can truly answer that question."

xxxxx

Callen took a deep breath before entering the boatshed. When he walked in, Deeks was sitting on a chair, alone. "Where's Moretti?" Callen asked, trying to sound nonchalant.

Deeks nodded at the monitor screen. "He's in the interrogation room."

"He must not be too happy about that."

"I already talked to him, Callen," Deeks said. "He wasn't really much help and I don't think he has anything to do with this case. We can spring him. Hetty told me to keep him until you got here. Well you're here, so let him go. Do what you want. We both know you will anyway. I'm done with this."

Deeks sounded very irritated and Callen didn't really blame him. "I'm sorry, Deeks," he said. "I owe you an apology. I shouldn't have taken off the way I did."

"Whatever, Callen. I get that you and I aren't best friends, but I would have thought you were over whatever issues you may have had with me…I mean, seriously, how long have we all been working together, eight or nine years?"

"I don't have any issues with you."

"You could have fooled me."

"It had nothing to do with you, Deeks, okay?" Callen said as he paced around, his body full of nervous energy. "It wasn't you...it was him…"

"Him who? You mean Moretti?"

"Yes…Moretti. I didn't want to talk to him."

"Couldn't you have just told me that?" Deeks asked. "I mean, you just take off without a word of explanation. What did you do to this guy anyway? Kill his father? Sleep with his wife?"

"No," Callen said, lowering his head.

"How do you know him?" Deeks persisted. "I think that's the least you owe me."

"I knew him when I was a kid…" Callen's voice was barely a whisper.

"Oh…" Deeks finally stopped pushing, seeing the affect the situation was having on Callen. "I know you probably don't think so, but…it might help to talk about it."

"Why don't you let him go, Deeks," Callen said. "Just take him back to work or wherever he needs to go."

"Why don't you do that yourself, Callen?"

Callen turned towards Deek and saw that the younger agent wasn't fooling around. "Because…because I can't, okay? Is that what you want me to say?" The memories he had been fighting to suppress all morning were relentlessly assaulting him and he shakily sat down on the sofa.

Deeks stared at Callen for a long moment, then got up from his chair, walked over to the sofa and sat down next to Callen. "What happened, Callen?" Deeks asked solemnly.

Callen just sat silently, unable or unwilling to talk about it.

"Maybe I should call Nate," Deeks said, unabashedly baiting the other man.

Callen turned to look at Deeks. "You wouldn't do that."

"I'll do whatever I think is best," Deeks said.

"Fine…I'll tell you," Callen felt like a trapped animal, cornered with no escape, but Deeks wasn't backing down at all. "I was nine," he began as he leaned his head against the back of the sofa and stared up at the ceiling. "Tony was 14. We were in the same foster home…"

Deeks sighed softly as he waited patiently for Callen to continue. He wasn't sure that he would, but he had a feeling it would be good for the other man to get some of this stuff out of his system, if he could bring himself to do it.

"Anyhow, Tony was the oldest kid in the house. We younger kids all looked up to him. He was brave and strong and didn't take crap from anyone. He was a good kid, had a good heart. He stuck up for us too. He stuck up for me… I used to follow him around. I'm sure I was a pain in the ass to him, but he let me pal around with him. He would teach me stuff and I just thought he was the greatest… "

"He was like a brother."

Callen nodded, his eyes sad. "Anyhow, one day, my foster father, Frank, was in a really pissy mood and I just happened to dump a glass of milk all over the place. Frank was on disability with a bad leg. He walked with a cane. Well, he came at me with that cane and I just knew he was going to beat the hell out of me. He hit me a couple of times over my shoulders and my head. I was pretty small and he knocked me onto the floor. Then he raised the cane over his head. Next thing I knew, Tony grabbed the cane right out of his hands and started beating him with it. That…that was the last time I ever saw Tony…cops came and took him away, probably got stuck in some juvie hall…I'm sure nothing good came of it, and…and it was my fault. He was sticking up for me and because of that, his life got even more screwed up."

"Oh man, Callen, that's what you're carrying around with you?" Deeks asked, shaking his head. "It wasn't your fault, not even close."

"How can you even say that?" Callen asked. "None of that would have happened if I hadn't spilled the milk."

"Seriously? Are you even listening to yourself? You think you're to blame for supposedly destroying someone's life over a glass of spilled milk? Come on, man…I know you have issues with self-blame and trust, but this one seems over the top, even for you."

"They took him away," Callen said angrily. "Because he was trying to help **_me_**."

"Callen? You need to talk to this guy," Deeks said. "I mean, you ** _really_** need to talk to him."

Callen shook his head. "I already told you, Deeks…I can't."

"You have to, because I'm not bringing him back to his work. If you're not going to do it, you need to call someone else to bring him back. Hetty maybe?"

"Hetty?" Callen looked at Deeks incredulously. "You know damn well I'm not going to call Hetty."

"Then you need to do it yourself," Deeks said with a shrug.

"Come on, Deeks…I told you the whole story, just like you wanted me to. Doesn't that count for something?"

Deeks nodded, his blue eyes intense. "It does count for something, Callen. Because you told me that story, it makes me realize just how much you need to do this. You need to talk to this guy and put this away, once and for all."

Callen sat there, waiting, hoping that Deeks was going to change his mind, but the younger man didn't budge. When Deeks pulled out his phone and started to play a game, Callen knew all hope was lost. He got up from the sofa and started walking towards the interrogation room.

"I know you don't think so, Callen," Deeks whispered, watching as Callen headed off. "But this is the best thing you can do for yourself…" As much as he wanted to know what was about to happen, Deeks got up from the sofa, went over to the monitor and turned it off. He respected Callen too much to eavesdrop on his conversation with Moretti.

xxxxx

Before he could change his mind, Callen opened the door to the interrogation room.

"It's about time," Moretti said, sounding irked. "Are we done with this, Detective Deeks?" He was in the middle of typing out a text which he quickly sent then turned his attention towards Callen. "Oh…you're not the detective. Are you going to question me too?"

Callen shook his head. "No…"

Moretti rolled his eyes. "Well, can I leave then? I have a company to run. I really can't be here all day."

"Tony…it…it's me…Callen."

Moretti stared back at Callen and a look of recognition came over him. "Callen? Oh my God…" There was obvious emotion in his eyes as he stood up and went to him, pulling him into an embrace. "After all this time…I…I can't believe this." He then pulled back, his hands on Callen's shoulders as he looked at him. "Look at you…" He chuckled. "You really grew up."

Callen smiled, but his eyes were sad. "Tony…I want to apologize for that day…I…"

Moretti shook his head in confusion. "You want to apologize? For what, Callen? Spilling some milk?" He laughed, but then saw that Callen didn't share his amusement. "Wait…you're serious."

Callen nodded. "Yes. Because you tried to protect me, you ended up in trouble."

"Oh man, Callen…" Moretti stared back at Callen, looking sad. "Because you spilled that milk, I ended up in the best place I could have."

"Really? You did?"

"Yeah," Moretti said with a nod. "After that whole debacle with Frank, I was in juvie for a couple days and then I got placed in a new home, with John Brooks, a retired police officer, and his wife." Moretti chuckled. "He was a real hard ass, but damn if it wasn't the best placement I could have asked for. I was one of four foster boys in his home. Anyhow, I ended up staying there until I graduated college. He and his wife, Donna…they've been like the parents I never had. They're wonderful people."

Callen stared at Moretti in disbelief as he slowly shook his head. "I…I was so sure you ended up in a bad place and that it was my fault…"

"Oh Callen, if you think you were responsible for my future after that day, then know that I owe you my thanks. That day was a turning point for me. Like I said, I graduated college, started my own company, got married and I've got two kids. Things couldn't have worked out better."

"I'm really happy for you," Callen said, still trying to wrap his head around these new discoveries. All the time he had spent blaming himself needlessly.

"How about you? Did you find a better place?"

"I continued to bounce around," Callen said, thinking back, "but then, when I was 15…I finally got pulled out of the foster care system for good."

"And now? Are you a cop?" Moretti asked, a smile on his face as he reflected. "I remember how much you liked to play cops and robbers. I thought about you over the years…wondered what happened to you, if you made it through okay…it's really good to see you have."

Callen nodded. "I'm glad to see things turned out well for you too, Tony…You can't imagine how glad…"

xxxxx

"Did you read this menu, Sam" Kensi asked, laughing from across the table. "Puebla beetles, ant eggs, Chinicuil worms…"

Sam chuckled. "I'm sure everything on this menu is terrific, Kens, even those items."

Kensi nodded, still smiling. "You're probably right and I've eaten some questionable things in the past for survival, but tonight, I think I'm going to stick to more ordinary foods."

"I don't know…" Sam said, perusing the menu. "I might be a little bit adventurous."

Hetty had made them reservations in what was supposed to be a very amazing and innovative restaurant. Kensi looked around at the décor, already impressed before they had eaten anything at all. "It was nice of Hetty to do this. I almost feel like we're having a paid vacation."

Sam nodded. "I can't imagine a more simple assignment." After performing a couple of interviews earlier in the day, he and Kensi had taken a historical sightseeing tour of the area and then dressed for dinner. "I actually feel kind of guilty that we're here and G and Deeks are stuck back at the office."

"We won fair and square, Sam," Kensi said. "Don't get me wrong, I do miss Deeks, but we'll be home tomorrow night."

Sam nodded. "You're right, and while we're here, we might as well enjoy every moment."

Kensi nodded. "And on that note, why don't you choose a nice bottle of wine for us."

"It would be my pleasure," Sam said with a grin.

xxxxx

The next morning, Callen arrived at work to see Deeks already sitting at his desk. "Good morning, Deeks," he said quietly, stopping to hand the younger agent a cup of coffee and a bag containing a breakfast sandwich.

"Good morning, Callen." Deeks gave the other man a surprised look as Callen handed him the coffee and food. "Thank you."

"You're welcome…" Callen sighed softly as he met Deeks' eyes. "Deeks…I know I apologized to you yesterday, but I'm not sure you really believed that I meant it. I really am sorry and…it turned out you were right. Talking to Tony turned out to be really good for me."

"Really?" Deeks asked.

Callen nodded. "Yeah…we ended up going out for drinks last night and things only got better for him after that day…the assumptions I made turned out to be very wrong ones…"

"I'm glad, Callen," Deeks said softly, "not that you made those wrong assumptions, but that you finally can put that behind you…one less thing to have to carry around…Sometimes it does help to talk things out."

"Yeah, that's something I'm going to have to work on, I guess." Callen knew in his heart he was still a long way from talking about many parts of his past, but maybe little by little he would get there.

Deeks nodded. "I know it's not easy, but it's not impossible either."

Just then, Eric's familiar whistle sounded from the staircase. "We've got a case, guys."

Callen and Deeks grinned at each other as they headed up to Ops. "So who's gonna drive?" Deeks asked as they walked up the stairs. "Do you want to or should I drive maybe?"

"Doesn't matter, Deeks. You can drive if you want to," Callen said. He was determined to make sure today was a better day for Deeks than the previous one had been. If Deeks hadn't pushed him into talking to Moretti, he'd likely be beating himself up even more for that particular episode in his life. Deeks was right in that it was one less thing to carry around with him and somehow that made his load just a little bit lighter. Hopefully, someday he could return the favor.


End file.
